Brazil

• Wednesday, February 9th 2011 - 20:42 UTC

  Brazil to trim budget and fight inflation by eliminating all 2009 stimuli

  

  Brazil announces 50 billion Real (30 billion US dollars) cuts from this year’s budget as President Dilma Rousseff seeks to help the central bank contain inflation and lower some the world’s highest real interest rates.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 17:49 UTC

  Rate hikes expected in Brazil and Chile as global commodity prices drive inflation

  

  Global commodity prices continue to be the main driver of inflation in both Brazil and Chile, according to the latest Latin America update report from Capital Economics.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 01:18 UTC

  Brazil reaffirms links with Venezuela; calls for quick Mercosur integration

  

  Brazil expects Venezuela’s full incorporation to Mercosur to be approved “soon” said Foreign Affairs minister Antonio Patriota during a meeting on Monday in Caracas with his peer Nicolas Maduro in Caracas to reaffirm strong bilateral links.

• Monday, February 7th 2011 - 20:54 UTC

  Geithner implicitly endorses “capital controls” during Brazilian visit

  

  US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reached out to Brazil by citing a shared concern - China - and endorsing Brazil's approach for dealing with global economic distortions.

• Monday, February 7th 2011 - 18:07 UTC

  US condemns South American/Arab leaders summits, say Wikileaks cables

  

  Brazilian policy towards Middle East and the Arab world harm US strategy in the region according to US embassy diplomatic cables between 2004 and 2009, recently exposed by Wikleaks.

• Monday, February 7th 2011 - 14:09 UTC

  “The show must go on” promise Rio Carnival groups in spite of blaze

  

  A fire has broken out in the carnival district, Samba city, of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, destroying warehouses where floats are made, reports say. At least four warehouses, a samba school and a carnival museum have been damaged in the blaze at Samba City.

• Monday, February 7th 2011 - 14:06 UTC

  Rio do Janeiro police take hold of favelas in early operation with no shots fired

  

  Rio do Janeiro police with the support of the Navy, other security agencies and armoured personnel vehicles in an flash operation on Sunday occupied nine “favelas,” or shantytowns dominated by drug gangs and did so “without a single shot,” officials said.

• Sunday, February 6th 2011 - 21:29 UTC

  Brazil and UK ready to sign huge defence contract, say media reports

  

  Brazil with a defence market described as “one of the fastest growing in the world” will be signing a defence agreement with the UK which should open the way for a deal worth “billions of dollars”, according to reports in the Brazilian and UK media.

• Sunday, February 6th 2011 - 21:02 UTC

  Geithner visits Brazil to discuss economic and financial cooperation

  

  United States Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will visit Monday Brazil to discuss economic cooperation. Geithner is scheduled to return on the same day.

• Sunday, February 6th 2011 - 20:43 UTC

  Droughts could turn Amazon basin from greenhouse gas eater to source of gases

  

  A long-lasting drought that affected the Amazon Rain Forest last year was worse than the once-in-a-lifetime drought that the region suffered in 2005, and a team of British and Brazilian scientists say it may have a bigger impact on global warming than the US does in a year.